Colorado is joining the growing list of states attempting to crack down on the manufacture of 3D printed “ghost guns,” joining New York, Washington, and California on a quest to expand firearms laws to regulate digital files and potentially ban 3D printers that are not under its surveillance. Under these restrictions, 3D printers that are not online for surveillance would be illegal.
Preventing gun violence is a noble cause, but these proposed bills are no longer going after the criminals who do evil; they are going after the tools they could potentially use to create weapons. This attempt at public safety could usher in an age of proprietary ecosystems, with customers locked into branded slicers and limited filament choices.
Colorado’s HB26-1144, titled "Prohibit Three-Dimensional Printing Firearms & Components," seeks to close loopholes created by new technology. It defines “3D printing” to mean both additive and subtractive manufacturing, which would include CNC machines. It makes possessing “digital instructions” to program a 3D printer or CNC machine with the intent to make a firearm or firearm component, and the distribution of such files, a Class 1 misdemeanor on the first offense. Subsequent offenses are a Class 5 felony.
“These ghost guns are increasingly found at crime scenes, making it harder for law enforcement to track down a suspect because the gun isn’t traceable. This bill would help keep these dangerous weapons out of our communities and save countless Colorado lives,” said Gilchrist in a press release.
The Democrats’ statement cited data archived by the National Library of Medicine, which noted the “ATF received approximately 45,240 reports of suspected privately made firearms recovered by law enforcement” between 2016 and 2021. Only 186 cases involved 3D printing, of which 14 were fully printed firearms like the Liberator. This specific data set was compiled by researchers who scoured public records, including news reports, social media, and forums like Reddit.
Prominent 3D printing YouTubers Joel Telling and Grant Posner have publicly invited lawmakers to visit their workshops to learn about the tech behind 3D printing. Telling is a resident of Washington, where State Representative Osman Salahuddin is sponsoring HB 2320 and HB 2321. Meanwhile, Posner is based in Florida, and though his state is not currently pursuing similar bans, Florida’s U.S. Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) has introduced H.R. 4143, the “3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2025”. H.R. 4143 would criminalize the online distribution of 3D printable firearm files nationwide.
“Come see the print farm in action. Come learn what 3D printing actually is, what it can do, and more importantly, what it cannot do,” Telling said in a recent YouTube video. “An STL file is just geometry, a list of points in space. A computer cannot look at a raw shape and know what it's for. The same cylinder could be a movie prop or a mechanical spacer or a tool handle.”
The 3D Printing Anti-Firearms Crackdown
While Colorado’s HB 26-1144 focuses on the possession of digital files, other states are moving toward a more dangerous "software-first" approach. Lawmakers are shifting from regulating criminal behavior to mandating surveillance within the 3D printers themselves.
The Federal Level: H.R. 4143, The 3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2025, serves as the national template. Sponsored by Rep. Jared Moskowitz, it seeks to criminalize the online distribution of CAD files, effectively attempting to "remove the blueprints" from the internet entirely.
Washington’s HB 2321: Going a step further than Colorado, Washington is considering a requirement for all 3D printers sold in the state to include "blocking technologies." This would force manufacturers to bake scanning algorithms into their firmware to detect and reject firearm-related shapes.
New York’s S.9005: New York’s proposal mirrors Washington’s but attaches it to the state's executive budget. It would ban the sale of any printer that does not have a pre-installed "firearms blueprint detection algorithm."
California’s AB 2047: California is eyeing a "roster" system, where only printers that have been state-certified as "tamper-proof" can be legally sold. This would likely end the use of open-source, offline printers in the state.
Thingiverse: The world’s biggest file library, announced in 2025 that it would use AI to block the uploading of firearm files.
Fingerprinting Your Prints: A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis is exploring ways to embed traceable digital “fingerprints” into 3D printed objects.
3D Printing a Gun isn’t that easy: In 2023, we tried printing a pistol. It wasn’t very good.
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